Nader/Gonzalez to Tackle Local Issues at Minneapolis News Conference
News Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rob Socket 267-974-6097 or Toby Heaps 202-441-6795
RALPH NADER AND MATT GONZALEZ TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE IN MINNEAPOLIS
On Thursday, September 4, at 6:30 p.m., Ralph Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez will hold a press conference in the Green Room at the Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis (Check-in at the front desk)
The candidates will touch on several issues especially pertinent to Minnesotans. Among those, the candidates will issue their opposition to the use of public money for private sports teams, including the $392 million for Twins Ballpark that will be generated by raising sales tax.
Nader/Gonzalez will speak on the significance of a fresh poll conducted last month by Minnesota Public Radio that found that 77 percent of the state's likely voters say they would consider voting for an independent or third-party candidate. This astounding figure highlights the publics dissatisfaction and distrust with the two-party duopoly and its stranglehold on the American political system. Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez, who have long opposed the two-party domination of politics, will highlight the crucial role of independent and third-party candidates in American history and the tremendous accomplishments they've achieved in the struggles to end slavery and give women the right to vote.
The Nader/Gonzalez campaign also opposes the use of coal power and supports the development of sustainable energies including solar and wind. That is why the Nader/Gonzalez campaign oppose the proposed $1.6 billion Big Stone II 600 MW coal plant that will drain 3.2 billion gallons of water per year from the Minnesota River, and emit 4.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases every year. For a region in the sweet spot of America’s wind belt, and an increasingly carbon constrained world, it doesn’t make sense for Minnesotans to make long-term and hefty financial commitments to yesterday's dirty way of producing electricity in, even in nearby states. There is no such thing as clean coal. That is the imagination of the Coal Institute.
Nader/Gonzalez will also address critical issues the major party candidates have taken "off the table" that the Nader/Gonzalez campaign has put on the table, including:
- a comprehensive, negotiated military and corporate withdrawal date from Iraq;
- a single-payer, Canadian-style, private delivery, free-choice public health insurance system for all;
- a living wage and repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act;
- a no-nuke, solar-based energy policy supported by renewable, sustainable, energy-efficient sources;
- a carbon tax to deter global warming;
- an end to the corporate welfare and corporate crime that has resulted in millions losing pensions, savings and jobs and squandered tax dollars; and,
- more direct democracy reflecting the preamble to our constitution which starts with "we the people," and not "we the corporations."
Who: Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez
What: Press Conference
Where: Green Room, Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis (Check-in at the front desk)
When: Thursday, Sept 4th 6.30pm
About Ralph Nader
Attorney, author, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th Century." For more than four decades he has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and was instrumental in enacting the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University and received an LL.B from Harvard Law School.
About Matt Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2000 representing San Francisco's fifth council district. From 2003 to 2005, he served as Board of Supervisors President. A former public defender, Gonzalez is managing partner of Gonzalez & Leigh, a 7-attorney practice in San Francisco that represents individuals and organizations in mediation, arbitration, and administrative proceedings before state and federal regulatory bodies. Gonzalez graduated from Columbia University and received a JD from Stanford Law School.
About the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign
According to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted from July 27-29, Ralph Nader is at 6 percent nationally (equivalent to about 10 million eligible voters), higher than his highest major poll numbers during the same time period in 2000 and approaching the 10 percent threshold required for eligibility to participate in "America's Presidential Debate in New Orleans," a Google-sponsored event scheduled for September 18. In the key swing state of Michigan -- whose Democratic voters were partially disenfranchised by the Democratic National Committee -- an EPIC-MRA poll found Nader at 8-10 percent.
For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, visit: votenader.org.
